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Guys, meet CHUCKY, a.ka. .Charles Lee Ray a.k.a Chaka Doll.. He might come off as a good doll at first, but what you do not know is that he has a big knife on his back! HE looks meek and kind and he would seem like the perfect companion, but in reality, he is one psychopathic son of a bitch who will trample anyone just to steal your soul.

He is a disgusting midget, with no manners and no breeding. He was an ex-convict at his previous life. NO WONDER! He is so good on the outside that in the movie the kid goes to his parents and tells them that Chucky is evil, but no one would believe him. He is indeed manipulative and makes people believe that he’s the good guy when in fact his character is lower and much dirtier than a pile of worm shit.

At first he he pretended to be a good doll, so the kid would trust him. But then when the kid finally allowed him to take control, he went back to his real self, a pure manifestation of evil that surpasses even Hitler with a pineapple shoved up so high in his ass (See Little Nicky.) He belongs in hell and nowhere else. Period.

Fortunately, as most movies go, GOOD triumphs evil. Everyone finally knew what Chucky really was and in the end, the truth set everything free. Except Chucky of course. The pathetic loser-dwarf was hacked into pieces and Andy and his friends grew up and moved on with their lives, without ever looking back at the time when their lives were bothered by a cheap, two-faced, maggot-infested abomination in the name of CHUCKY.

So moral lesson of the movie. Never trust a kind face. Dolls can be very deceiving. But no matter how pathetic they are, they still have a story to tell. For me, Chucky was an epitome of someone who has been left alone and abandoned. He is a useless worm who tried to find his own identity in the world. Unfortunately, at the end of the movie, his identity turns out to be exactly who he really is—- still a WORM… Having realized this, he became so enraged that he thought that if he goes down, then everybody should go down with him.

Good thing the movie also tells us that the truth will come out no matter how much we hide it. Even if Chucky tried to put everyone in misery, the GOOD PEOPLE still won in the end! That is how the world is… no matter how you twist it… GOOD PEOPLE WIN, BAD PEOPLE LOSE…. Karma, my friends, is the best ally… and just like Chucky in all six movies, everything that he does will all go back to destroy him.

So kids, beware of CHUCKY… he could be lurking anywhere, trying to be your new best friend. He could be tagging along with you even if you don’t want to or sticking to you like glue even if you’re too disgusted to be around it. Look inside your heart and see the truth, for it may just save your life. So, be careful and always remember what I said….not all dolls are created equal!

This is me. Complicated and imaginative. I dare you to enter my thoughts.

I was born on March the first. So yes, I’m Piscean. And I think it pretty much explains why I’m like this. I prided myself more intelligent than my peers once, having been able to read and write at the age of three and skip two years during pre-school and primary school. But I guess being too far from your peers would make you lose your childhood. Now I’m 30 years old, doing this degree right after sailing through BA English Literature and BS Business Management in UP while still making up my mind on what the hell I’m really doing with my life and on why can’t I be a kid forever. Or worse, people would always ask “How can someone like you end up studying here?”

I just tell them “How can someone like me not? I hate wearing uniforms.”

Being in this school made me realize that as much as the type of school could help shape up your backbone, it is not always the general case. It is through your passion and diligence that would allow you to soar at your destination. UP and WIT have taught me different styles of looking at the world. The former with ambition, and the latter, with compassion.

I have the blood of artists. My father is a thespian, a photographer, and once, a painter. My mother is a fashion designer. So is my younger sister. And my brother is a musician. The five of us can draw well and we all play the guitar. My grandfathers from both sides were singers and thespians. And the rest of my extended family? Well, let’s just say, they inherited the madness that comes with the art.

I love art. Be it theater, literature, music, dance, and fashion. And who does not love even one form of art? I think people would have loss of air if God takes away their art. It adds up a big part to my complication, but it makes me feel free. So I’m willing to stay complicated.

I chose teaching because I personally think it is the noblest job in the world. Even priests can be partial. But not teachers. We teach both the good and the bad and we let the students decide for themselves on which road to take. Teaching allows me to fuse my art and my imagination to rouse my students’ minds. I love the look on their faces when they are trying to think of an answer to an issue I bring up. And most of all, I love seeing their faces when they tell me that they learned something from me.

Personally, I love studying… It’s like a forced hobby, but a hobby nonetheless. Oh! We’re only talking about English subjects here right? Because if we’re talking about studying Maths or Filipino, then it’s an entirely different story. Think Da Vinci doing the dougie.

As I am both teaching, studying and working at this moment, I think I have the right to say that I know how students feel. And I boldly use it to my advantage. I am a supporter of hypermedia as an educational tool. And I will elaborate my reasons later. I simply think that as each generation progresses, so does its science, and consequently, its technology.

I am far from perfect. I am not a morning person, and my brain is at its most active at around midnight, which explains why I chose to write this at 1:27 in the morning. I am also the most stubborn person you’ll meet. If I want something, I’ll cry, beg, and scream or at least pretend to cry, beg, and scream just to get them. If everything fails, I work harder and push my boss to the edge until he gives me a cash advance.

I run two blogs, one is personal and it contains all my thoughts, ideas, dreams, frustrations, and plans on my future. It mostly features things I love about life and thing I love about being a teacher. The other one is a website for my business. I create and sell vintage-inspired accessories, hair accessories and personal hand-made sanitizers. I also like taking photographs and I feature them on both my blogs.

When I finish school, I have two plans. The business side of me hopes to go back to Korea or go somewhere far where my skills are needed by EFL students then maintain a minimal part of my business as a kind of sideline. But what I really dream of is for my business to succeed and then, volunteer teaching to less fortunate students during weekends. Either way, I hope that I do them with integrity and passion.

Honestly, I feel that my life is too short. My mind sees something different everyday, and although most of the time my mind gets consumed by nonsensical, worldly matters, there will always that time and that little corner in my mind that invites me to free my thoughts. To ask, to ponder, to wonder, to critic, to create, to rant, to pray, to fly.

Mr. Chairperson, honorable judges, my worthy opponents, Ladies and Gentlemen, good afternoon. The surplus of students who have graduated nursing is but one of many end-products of schools accepting enrollees without limits or standards and have consequently become a burden to our economy and society. It seems that despite the knowledge of limited job opportunities, the growing number does not seem to stop. More and more families are suffering from financial woes due to unreturned investment and unemployment. Because our team believes that students deserve equal chances to have better opportunities and academic credibility, we stand resolved: that the government should regulate schools in the number of students enrolled in different programs. But before I go on, I would like to define the terms. Government is defined as the system by which a nation, state or community is governed; particularly referring to the constituted authority of the Republic of the Philippines which is the Commission on Higher Education or CHED. We focus on the word regulate in terms of imposing restrictions, rules and limits. The term student is limited to enrollees of any baccalaureate degree under the quota programs. And since we will be mainly focusing on the restriction of student numbers, we shall define quota programs as programs that are in demand therefore under cut-off requirements and limited slots. Enroll is defined as to be officially listed in the school’s student records after undergoing requirements of the quota system. And finally, school is defined as higher educational institutions in the tertiary level under the CHED.

We, on the affirmative side, believe in quality, not quantity and in being so, develop graduates that possess initiative and passion in their line of work. An ideal quota system places the quota courses through an examination whose purpose is not to determine who is eligible for this school, but to assess the student’s strengths and weaknesses through the results. An ideal examination shall include a psychological test that could determine the personality, the EQ and the degrees that are best suited for his abilities. After assessing his high school grades and his entrance exam, the student is guided into choosing the appropriate course for him through pre-enrollment counseling. And finally, during his first year, a series of counseling shall still be implemented to get him familiarized with his course, followed by yearly career updates to get him in constant track with job opportunities in time for his graduation. We believe that this system could change the way our youth develops as contributing members to our society and to our country. Allow me therefore, to discuss the necessity aspect of this system.

There is a need for change. First, the quota system is needed to battle the problem of supply versus demand. According to O’Grady Peyton International, the nursing industry has experienced retrogression and the unemployment rate in the USA. Nurses are now being canceled and abandoned by their respective agencies. And with the recent economic crisis of 2009, the rate of employment in the US has declined. President Obama even expressed concern for the continuous entry of foreign workers and proposed an increase in education budget so that the job opportunities would prioritize their own people. A bill was proposed by the US Congress to limit visas for Register Nurses with an annual limit of 50,000. Fifty thousand. Don’t you think it sounds quite small? With an average of 86,347 nursing graduates per year, it is logical to say that demand does not meet the supply. Furthermore, countries such as India and South Africa, whose nurses are equally skilled and proficient in English, are also being hired abroad. The 50,000 limit is not exclusive for the Philippines only but it is open to competition.

Second, we need the quota system to increase the quality of education in schools. Just recently CHED has issued a warning to close down 152 nursing schools after consistently averaging a passing rate of 30% among its graduates on the licensure examination. Moreover, The Head Alliance for Democracy has stated that from 2004 to 2006, the proportion of nursing graduates who passed the RN exams have decreased from the already low 56% to 42%. So what does this imply? Does the overpopulated nursing school congest their students in their classrooms when CHED requires the teacher ratio of students at 1:25 in laboratories and 1:50 in classrooms? There have been many accounts of violations regarding this and if you actually think about it which student would benefit more from his teacher? One who studies in an over-populated classroom or a student who enjoys more attention from his teacher and peers because of the quota system? You decide.

Lastly, a quota system is needed to foster psychological and social awareness and growth in each student concerned. If you are best suited to a particular degree and have entered into it, chances are, your social and psychological development will maximize to the fullest. You will become a student who does not only rely on the guidance of the teachers but also become someone who possesses the initiative to better himself through other means. Research has shown that students who have undergone psychological testing and have been placed in a suitable degree acquire more intrinsic motivation than students who are just financially motivated or their only option is to choose the degree their parents have opted for them. It has also shown that most students who graduated with a degree that they were forced into and was not suited for them often ended feeling incomplete and yearning for freedom. These types of people usually feel bitterness and resentment at the later part of their lives. What kind of example will they show to their children someday? Are they most likely to give back to society when they are so unfulfilled?

Ladies and Gentlemen, there is a great need to maximize the potential of each student here. And it is not only a need but a right. By allowing the quota system to screen students and guide them into their suitable degrees, we will not only be producing competent graduates, but students who have fulfilled the very aim of the constitution, (which is to entitle them in a quality of education that accelerates social progress and promote total human liberation and development.) Art. 2 Sec. 17

I hate to admit it, but I think I am a Pina Colada kind of girl. Give me a spoon of the hard stuff with lots of citrusy sweetness and I’m good to go. So when my Uncle Joseph called me over to drink my first scotch while visiting their house to borrow a cup of sugar, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

The first taste went down pretty smoothly, or so I thought. It was heat in my throat all the way down my stomach. Then, when I exhaled, I went “Mmm” as the feeling of what is believed to be smokiness and sweetness escaped my breath. I took a second sip, and this time the bitter aftertaste seemed to have receded and the heat on my mouth was followed by this certain jolt of sweet satisfaction. Unfortunately, I had to return home and continue on my baking duties but I did pull out a mental note to find out more about scotch and why it left such a lasting impression on my mind, and obviously on my throat.

It is interesting to note how various self-proclaimed connoisseurs could never agree on the taste. Even my uncle calls it “smoky” but his wife calls it “straight up smooth.” So with curiosity creeping in, I finally decided to pull off a little whiskey research and here were some of the interesting facts that I have found out.

1. Whiskey hails from Ireland – and while my uncle would argue to his death that since only the Scots make the best one therefore they probably made the first one, I found out that it might be subject for argument, since Irish legend claims that whiskey was invented to keep their people from invading other countries. Though that mystery is yet to be solved, what is factual right now is that whiskey in Ireland is termed “whiskey” and whiskey in Scotland is called “scotch.”

2. Whiskey is that popular probably for the reason that it has some sort of divine intervention. Commonly called “angel’s share” or “angel’s tax,” this term is used to define the two to four percent loss of whiskey in the barrel every year due to evaporation. I guess that is obviously why whiskey becomes more valuable as time goes by. Talk about a new twist to scarcity.

3. Whiskey is in fact, beer. When distilling whiskey, they have to first make beer, and then have them distilled twice or thrice without the hops. Certain blends of whiskey are made using hops, depending on the region. However it is only in Ireland and Scotland that strictly do not.

4. Whiskey is basically made from three varieties, each with its own unique strength and taste. Three kinds exist with hundreds of variations to choose from. These three are single malt, single cask, and blended. Single malt is basically every connoisseur’s pet, and it is basically composed of purely malt whiskey, and then blended in different casks in a single distillery. The single cask variation is more unique and expensive, for the fact that it is not blended and it is usually straight from the cask without any mix. It is quite rare but it does not mean it is immediately finer in taste. The alcohol content however, is much higher, as they are not mixed with water or any other element. Finally the blended kind is the most common of the three, with 40% coming from malt whiskey then blended with 60% grain whiskey. What make this variety popular are the different tastes one could come up from the blending process. Johnny Walker and Chivas Regal are well-sought out brands.

5. There are around seven regions that make whiskey. These are Ireland, Scotland, Canada, Tennessee, Kentucky, Japan, and New Zealand. Irish whiskey is distilled three times, using pure-malted barley as the grain. Malted Barley is dried in closed ovens, and is never exposed to smoke. Famous Irish whiskeys include Jameson’s and Bushmill’s. The Scots make their whiskey by drying barley over peat fire, giving their whiskey that smoky taste. Macallan and Highland Park are whiskey brands from Scotland. Canadian whiskey is distilled any number of times using malted rye as the grain, and it is the number one imported spirit in the United States. Tennessee is the proud maker of Jack Daniels. Kentucky is the home to the famous bourbon, the whiskey that tastes just a bit sweeter over the rest.

In Old Gaelic language, whiskey means “water of life” and although my citrusy taste buds tell me otherwise, I have come to have a deeper respect for this spirit. It is a class of its own and yet very real in nature. Even my Uncle Joseph laughed when I suggested putting ice on it, saying that true whiskey must be appreciated as it is. It tastes exactly what it wants to be tasted and it does not hold any pretentions in its raw strength. I might be a shallow Pina Colada girl till I grow old but now I would not mind taking that third sip anytime soon.

I hope some people would understand if I say that today is not a good day to do an essay. Pre-finals are coming up, and the last thing I want to do is give 15% of my effort to something then horribly regret it later.

I was given this task to impart of what I think would embody an ideal English teacher. And I’m not saying this because of what I’m feeling in my first paragraph, but honestly, there are almost no words! I wish I could just be blunt and give my exact thoughts on this, but even I, who have experienced being both a teacher and a student, could not really pull off the perfect explanation. Well here goes.

After a few hours of randomly searching for something wise to write, I decided to build a chart. A quasi-imaginary chart of what I think should be essential in being an effective teacher in English. I said quasi-imaginary because if you’d be picking my brains for raw fact, it would probably take a lot more than a lousy chart. This chart merely represents my general view of what a teacher should at least possess on a natural, day-to-day basis, especially when he or she deals with EFL learners.

Great Command of English – I don’t know how I could really word this but basically, it boils down to:

Knowledge of the language

Fluency on the language.

Attitude towards the language.

Knowledge and wisdom over factors that affect the students who learn the language.

I really don’t mind if my English teacher would correct my grammar or my pronunciation as long as it’s in a tasteful manner. I remember this one teacher who suddenly shouted “My Gosh, THAT’S WRONG!” The student she shouted at was so embarrassed that she signed up in another academy. Yeah, grammar Nazi fail….So yes, extensive knowledge comes hand in hand with humility.

Creative – probably the best way to size up a teacher’s skill is how he could take command of the students’ attention and interest without spending a single peso. I love teachers who come up with great ideas, stories and activities then ending the class with everyone talking about him and his activity with so much gusto that they even continue talking about it to their families during dinnertime. It’s probably in line with this quote: “Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.” This comes in very handy, especially to teachers who teach EFL.

Friendly – As in approachable. As in helpful. As in trustworthy. As in “I’m not an indifferent SOB.”

Always a student – No pun intended. I personally abide by this. For me, an ideal teacher is someone who sets an example to students that one never stops learning. Supplementary studies, trainings, and other degrees. Even at 30. Even at 40, Even at 50. And yes, even if one is older than the Duquesa De Alba. English, like everything else, keeps changing and evolving. So teachers mustn’t assume that just because they finished their degrees, everything stops there.

Passionate in Teaching. I saved the best for last. And this comes from personal experience. There was a time in my life when I woke up one day and decided to stop teaching English to Koreans. I just got so sick and I didn’t know why I felt like that. But eventually I moved on and tried other stuff, like enrolling in Cosmetology, involving myself back to theater, and giving more time to personal desires. The first few months were wonderful, but soon, I began feeling weak and melancholic. It’s a long story but basically it boils down to this: I realized that teaching was part of my soul. It can burn me dry for some time, but I will always find myself hungry for it again. And here in school, I have seen a decent amount of teachers who, despite being near retirement, still have that blaze in their eyes. And I have very deep respect for them.

Now this is embarrassing. I said I almost have nothing to say about this particular assignment, and yet I have written almost two pages here.

Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper explores the medical, legal, ethical, and moral issues related to long-term illness—a complicated subject in the contemporary world. In the book, thirteen-year-old Anna sues her parents for the right to control her body. Conceived as a sibling donor match for her sister Kate, who suffers from leukemia, Anna has undergone numerous procedures to provide Kate with whatever she needs to fight her disease, but when Anna learns she is to give up a kidney for her sister, Anna hires a lawyer and takes her parents to court.

Picoult’s idea for My Sister’s Keeper came while doing research for her novel Second Glance, when she was intrigued by information about eugenics in the United States in the 1930s. Supporters of eugenics wanted to improve the human race by allowing only those with desirable genetic characteristics to reproduce. Picoult also learned about stem cell research and linked the ideas, wondering if stem cell research could become human genome research. The related issues are complex and emotional.

A news story about a mother in Colorado who conceived a child so that the baby could donate cord blood to save the life of his elder sister also captured Picoult’s imagination. The author took the idea to the next level and added more invasive procedures to increase the story’s drama and ethical dilemma.

Picoult’s personal experience also shaped the plot. Her middle child, Jake, had ten surgeries in three years beginning when he was six years old. Picoult’s son suffered from Cholesteatoma—a benign but potentially fatal tumor that can grow into the brain—in both ears. Because of this experience, Picoult understands the lengths to which a mother will go to protect her child and also how needs of a sick child are demanding for the entire family.

My Sister’s Keeper won a 2005 Alex Award from the Margaret Alexander Edwards Trust, and Booklist named it as one of the top ten adult books for teenagers. Reviewing the novel in Booklist, Kristine Huntley concluded, “This is a beautiful, heartbreaking, controversial, and honest book.”

In this report, we are going to attempt to analyze the novel through the psychoanalytic approach. We will dig deeper into the psychological environment of both the author and setting to further understand as to why the novel came to be one of the most provocative literary works that challenges the morality and ethics of the contemporary readers.

Plot Summary:

The narrative of My Sister’s Keeper alternates between first-person accounts by the novel’s different characters. The bulk of the story takes place in the present, in a one-and-a-half week stretch of time. Sara Fitzgerald, a former attorney and current stay-at-home mom, narrates the remainder of the story from different points in the past but moving gradually toward the present. One final chapter, the epilogue, occurs in the future. In 1990, doctors diagnose Sara’s two-year-old daughter, Kate, with a rare and aggressive form of leukemia. The news that their child might die shocks Sara and her firefighter husband, Brian, but Sara immediately resolves to begin Kate on treatment. Kate starts chemotherapy, and her oncologist, Dr. Chance, suggests she might eventually need a bone marrow transplant, preferably from a related donor. The Fitzgeralds test their four-year-old son, Jesse, but he is not a match. Dr. Chance mentions that another unborn sibling could be a match, and Sara suggests to Brian that they have another child.

Sara’s passages, told at different points over the next fourteen years, focus largely on Kate’s struggles. She describes how scientists help them conceive another daughter, Anna, who is a perfect genetic match for Kate. Over the course of the next few years, Anna undergoes several procedures, including frequent blood withdrawals and a painful bone marrow extraction, to help keep Kate alive. Sara describes in great detail the pain and suffering Kate endures. Chemotherapy and radiation make her violently ill, and an emergency trip to the hospital heralds each new relapse. Sara and Brian’s marriage suffers as a result, to the point where they begin to feel like strangers. In different ways, both Jesse and Anna act out at Sara because of her single-minded focus on Kate.

The present action of the story begins on a Monday. Thirteen-year-old Anna goes to see a lawyer named Campbell Alexander and asks him to represent her. Anna tells Campbell that she wants to sue her parents for medical emancipation. Kate, her sister, is in the end stages of kidney failure, and Anna wants to file the lawsuit so she will not have to donate a kidney to Kate. Campbell, who has a service dog but gives a sarcastic explanation whenever someone asks why, agrees to represent Anna for free. When she is served with the papers for the lawsuit, Sara becomes furious with Anna as she cannot understand Anna’s decision. Brian, however, understands Anna’s point of view to a degree and recognizes that she would not have brought a lawsuit unless she were genuinely unhappy. Judge Desalvo, the judge for Anna’s case, decides to appoint a woman named Julia Romano as Anna’s guardian ad litem, a person whose job is to objectively decide what is in Anna’s best interests. When Julia goes to see Campbell, it becomes clear they have a romantic past and have not seen each other in many years. Throughout all of these events, Jesse has been setting different abandoned buildings on fire. Jesse acts like a delinquent in other ways as well, such as drinking alcohol excessively, but much of this behavior stems from anger over his inability to save Kate and his feelings of being ignored by his parents.

Kate becomes seriously ill and must be hospitalized. Dr. Chance says she will die within a week. Anna refuses to change her mind about the lawsuit, however. At the hearing, Sara decides she will represent herself and Brian. Consequently, Brian takes Anna to stay with him at the fire station to give Anna some distance from her mother. He believes if they remain in the same house together, Anna may unwillingly cave to her mother’s wish that she donate her kidney. Meanwhile, through flashbacks Campbell and Julia alternately recall scenes from their high-school relationship. They both attend a prep school populated by children from wealthy families. Julia feels and acts like the outsider, and Campbell falls in love with her despite the reservations of his friends and parents. Their relationship ends abruptly, however, when Campbell breaks it off without explanation. In the present, Campbell and Julia initially bicker with each other, but they end up sleeping together the night before the trial begins.

At the trial, both Sara and Campbell question witnesses, including one of the doctors familiar with Kate’s medical history, and both are effective at different times. Reluctantly, Anna takes the stand and admits that she filed the lawsuit because Kate told her to. At the very moment she makes this announcement, Campbell has an epileptic seizure and collapses. When his seizure ends, he admits he has been having seizures ever since a car accident in high school. He broke up with Julia because he didn’t want his seizures, which limit him greatly, to limit Julia as well. He also explains that the seizures are the reason he has a service dog, which can tell when another seizure is coming on. Julia and Campbell reconcile. Back on the stand, Anna explains that Kate asked Anna not to donate her kidney because she was tired of being sick and waiting to die. Anna also admits that while she loves her sister, part of her wanted Kate to die, too, so that she could have more freedom with her life. Judge DeSalvo decides to grant Anna medical emancipation and gives Campbell medical power of attorney over her.

On the way to the hospital, Campbell and Anna get into a serious car accident. At the hospital, the doctors tell the family that Anna has irreversible brain damage. Campbell tells the doctors to give Anna’s kidney to Kate. Kate narrates the epilogue, set in 2010. She discusses the grief her family went through after Anna’s death, and the fact that she blames herself. She knows, however, that she will always carry Anna with her.

Critical Approach on the novel, in the Psychoanalytic Perspective.

The Psychoanalytic Approach refers to literary criticism which, in method, concept, theory, or form, is influenced by the tradition of psychoanalysis begun by Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalytic reading has been practiced since the early development of psychoanalysis itself, and has developed into a rich and heterogeneous interpretive tradition. The basis of this approach is the idea of the existence of a human consciousness – those impulses, desires, and feelings about which a person is unaware but which influence emotions or behavior.

It is a literary approach where critics see the text as if it were a kind of dream. This means that the text represses its real (or latent) content behind obvious (manifest) content. The process of changing from latent to manifest content is known as the dream work, and involves operations of concentration and displacement. The critic analyzes the language and symbolism of a text to reverse the process of the dream work and arrive at the underlying latent thoughts.

Guide Questions:

1. What connections can you make between your knowledge of the author’s life and the behavior and motivations of characters in his or her work?

As mentioned earlier, Jodi Picoult’s fascination towards medical drama has manifested towards a lot of her literary works. It has been known that her son has suffered a very traumatic illness. Her son, Jake was diagnosed with Cholesteatoma in his ear. Cholesteatoma is a kind of benign tumor that can grow in one’s brain and can be fatal. Picoult’s son had ten surgeries in three years and was partially deaf until recently. It can be said that she underwent a lot of difficulties in making hard decision concerning her son’s condition. That is probably why she mostly explored on the emotional and mental aspects not only concerning the protagonists on her works, but on the people surrounding them.

2. How does your understanding of the characters, their relationships, their actions, and their motivations in a literary work help you better understand the mental world?

I think that in general, the human mind is a very complex organ, one driven by countless catalysts, that shapes and moves decisions, emotions, and beliefs, every second of everyday. My Sister’s Keeper gives us an in-depth experience on how a particular disease fuels a mother into making crucial yet provocative decisions. And although it is not a general problem occurring nowadays, it is one problem that makes us think differently. “What if it happened to us?” Like Anna’s family, we are all connected by a single word – love. And sometimes love drives us to go beyond normal limits of our human capacity, consequently reaching barriers of morality and ethics. I believe that the human mind, in its infinite possibilities, is still partially, or in some cases fully controlled by the affective aspect of a person. Although the book shows a very exaggerated and bold move in the part of the young Anna, we can see the shadows that haunt her and the rest of her family, proof that their ties as a family could still overcome even the greatest of challenges.

3. How does a particular literary work — its images, metaphors, and other linguistic elements—reveal the psychological motivations of its characters or psychological mindset of its author?

I think most literary works are directly or indirectly reflecting their elements and themes through the conscious or unconscious psychological backgrounds of its characters and mostly through the author’s psychological mindset as a whole. In the novel, several symbols became prominent in the whole course of the story. One of them, “Fire” is a major symbol, represented in the conflicts and decisions of the character’s problems and challenges, as well as the relationships and behavior of the characters in the story. Another of the epigraphs Picoult chooses, (and of which symbolizes her personal involvement on the story,) is the poem “First Fig” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, which talks about a candle burning at both ends. The family, like that candle, is metaphorically burning itself out.

4. To what extent can you employ the concepts of Freudian psychoanalysis to understand the motivations of literary characters?

If we focus on two characters, Anna and Sara Fitzgerald, it is already enough to make a study about Freudian application on the complexity of their relationship. Freudian three main concepts, the id, the ego, and the superego reflect on both sisters on every decision that they have made in the course of the story. Sara’s drive as a mother, gives testimony of the id principle, the need for a mother to do whatever it takes for the survival of her young. However, there is also a conflict when the ego principle sets it, for it symbolizes the reality of their situation as a whole. It reminds them that Sara is not mostly Anna’s mother; she represents someone who controls her body and using it to save her other daughter. Then the moral compass of both their superego is challenged when Anna finally gets legal help, to sue her parents and obtain freedom of her body through medical emancipation. Their moral decisions become more evident as the story progresses and a deeper problem within their family has surfaced.

5. What kind of literary works and what types of literary characters seem best suited to a critical approach that employs a psychological or psychoanalytical perspective? Why?

Jodi Picoult’s other literary works, such as “Mercy,” and “Perfect Match,” which deals about the issues of mercy killing and sexual molestation respectively could also provide a good platform for studying the psychoanalytic approach. However, I would also personally recommend Thomas Harris’s third novel, “Hannibal.” The book sets off shortly after the novel “The Silence of the Lambs,” which garnered positive response from readers since its inception. However, “Hannibal” digs a lot deeper into the mind of the antagonist, Hannibal Lecter and it explores his beginnings and the events that led to him becoming who he is. I think the book and the character himself would serve as a good medium for studying and analyzing though the psychoanalytical approach. The complexity of the Hannibal Lecter’s character could provide a challenging study considering the fact that the author has been said to be a very different nature compared to the atmosphere of his series.

6. How can a psychological or psychoanalytic approach to a particular work be combined with an approach from another critical perspective—for example, that of biographical or formalist criticism or that of feminist or deconstructive criticism?

The psychological approach can be proved very beneficial as a supplementary to other approaches because it is a well-suited and very rounded approach. Like all forms of literary criticism, psychoanalytic criticism can yield useful clues to the sometime baffling symbols, actions, and settings in a literary work; however, like all forms of literary criticism, it has its limits. For one thing, some critics rely on the psychoanalytic approach as a “one size fits all” approach, when in fact no one approach can adequately illuminate a complex work of art. So this approach complements other approaches; it simply provides added information, especially on the relationship between the literary work and the psychological background of the author, to the pre-existing approaches where it was said earlier, also lack certain elements that can fully analyze a literary work to its fullest capacity.